Metal News for April 12, 2006

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27 news articles posted on this day.

The highly acclaimed new LACUNA COIL album, Karmacode, had a phenomenal first week at retail moving an impressive 34,000 units via Nielsen SoundScan, securing the #28 spot on the Billboard Top 200 charts. It also debuted at #5 on the Hard Music chart just behind such acclaimed artists as Nickleback and Rob Zombie. Critics have hailed the much-anticipated release as the group’s most cohesive and all encompassing offering yet, led by the strength of its hit single “Our Truth,” which is currently a Top 40 single on the U.S. Active Rock charts.

LACUNA COIL are currently in the midst of a massive six-week, sold-out U.S. tour as direct support to Rob Zombie, which is also the group’s first Stateside run in support of their highly acclaimed new album. This will lead them into a main stage slot at this year’s Ozzfest, becoming one of the few bands in the tour’s illustrious decade-long history to make the leap from second stage to the main stage.

Finland's FINNTROLL have secured the services of TWILIGHT MOON frontman Mathias Lillmåns as the group's new lead singer. Lillmåns is reportedly 23 years old, and like FINNTROLL's original vocalist, Katla Mathias, is Fenno-Swedish, with Swedish as his mother tongue.

SIRENIA, the Norwegian gothic metal band featuring former TRISTANIA guitarist/vocalist Morten Veland, have announced the addition of 27-year-old Danish female singer Monika Pedersen to the group's ranks. "Monika has been dedicated to music all her life, and has loads of experience from from other bands, projects, choirs etc." the group write on their web site. "In addition, she has been working with several professional singing teachers in Luxemburg and Denmark. From now on she will have an important role in SIRENIA's music, and we all look forward to a future collaboration."

Pedersen joins SIRENIA as the replacement for Henriette Bordvik, who quit the band last September.

SIRENIA last year signed a new record deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band have released two successful albums to date (2002's "At Sixes and Sevens" and 2004's "An Elixir for Existence") and in 2004 toured Europe with Tiamat, Pain and Theatre Of Tragedy.

Vest yourself with the dress LIV KRISTINE started her career in and support a charity project! You have the unique chance to purchase an original LIV KRISTINE dress by auction.

Together with the German charity association "Gothic Aid e.V." the singer of LEAVES' EYES exclusively sells one of her dresses at auction. The black velvet dress was worn by the gothic queen on her first three tours with her former band Theatre of Tragedy when she started her career.

DARK NEW DAY drummer Will Hunt (ex-SKRAPE) has been tapped by MÖTLEY CRÜE to fill in for injured drummer Tommy Lee on the last few dates of their North American tour. Hunt, who had previously backed Tommy in his solo band, has taken over the drumming duties after a member of the Canadian MÖTLEY CRÜE tribute band BRÖKEN TÖYZ stepped in at the last minute to cover for Lee at the band's April 5 concert at the Enmax Center in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.

"After playing multiple shows wearing a brace and taking anti-inflammatory injections, Tommy Lee's doctor instructed him to give his injured right-hand wrist a break after his tendinitis made it difficult for him to perform," MÖTLEY CRÜE's publicist, Dvora Vener Englefield, had previously said in a statement. Tendonitis is a common and painful injury for drummers who pound the skins with great force.

DARK NEW DAY guitarist Clint Lowery (ex-SEVENDUST) confirmed that Hunt was playing with the CRÜE, but was quick to add, "Will's not leaving to join MÖTLEY CRÜE. They called him in to do a small string of dates because Tommy has a small medical issue that he will recover from in a week. Will's very close with Tommy and is stepping in to help, not to mention [that] it's gonna be cool to do."

Nine of the 10 Ozzfest dates that Ozzy Osbourne will be headlining during this summer's trek have been revealed. Ozzy will headline the bill during the tour's first night in Auburn, Washington, on June 29, as previously reported, and he'll also close out shows in San Francisco (July 1); San Bernardino, California (July 8); Chicago (July 16); East Troy, Wisconsin (July 22); New York (July 29); Boston (August 1); Camden, New Jersey (August 4); and Bristow, Virginia (August 6). The Ozzman's 10th appearance will be announced in the coming weeks.

THE LEGION's planned tour throughout Europe has now been confirmed. The tour will begin right after the Inferno festival (where they play on the Saturday 16/4) and last until the end of April. Tour dates are as follows:

As previously reported, The Legion made some personnel changes late last year, taking on vocalist Kjetil Hektoen (Crest of Darkness, Enthral) and session bassist Kristoffer Andersson (Sargatanas Reign). There has been no word of a change in status of Andersson or another replacement.

BLOOD FREAK's second full-length album, "Live Fast, Die Young... And Leave A Flesh-Eating Corpse!" has gone to press! Look for this out later this month on Razorback Records. The booklet was designed by Sly the Goregnome from Fondlecorpse and Maniac Neil, and is 16 pages in full color with tons of exclusive artwork, all the lyrics, and more. The album was mastered at Nettleingham Audio (Frightmare, Lord Gore, Funerot, etc.) and features cover artwork by metal legend Ed Repka.

Orlando, Florida's AM Conspiracy is led by former Drowning Pool frontman, Jason 'Gong' Jones. He makes no bones about the fact that at this point in his life, he just wants to do what makes himself happy musically. This guy really is one of the rare singing talents that can effortlessly go from a soulful, bluesy-metal range to high-piercing screams that can even make Halford proud. Gong is now taking his music down a new road with a different set of bandmates. Ranging from Layne Staley'esque choruses to being able to growl with any other of metal's elite, the likes of say a Dez Fafara or Randy Blythe. Gong Jones convincingly continues onward in building his impressive rock legacy, more than ready at any point to show all of us another thing or two by pulling the ace card out from one of his tattooed arm sleeves. More...

On Tuesday, April 18, the metal act I.R.A.T.E. will be appearing at Torrance, California's Tower Records, celebrating their new album release entitled "Brothers of the Same Struggle", which will be a 2-cd set, featuring a compilation of twenty unsigned bands on the nationwide Project Independent Tour. This summer, with the support of MySpace, Jagermeister Music and Tower Records, I.R.A.T.E. will be embarking onto the nation's largest independent music campaign ever. I am so pleased to have had my questions answered by their lead singer, Erik Ulrich. More...

Swedish all-female quartet CRUCIFIED BARBARA (photo) — whose debut album, "In Distortion We Trust", will be released by Liquor and Poker Music on May 30 — will kick off a nine-show French tour Friday night (April 14). It includes a Le Mans show alongside KILLING JOKE on April 22.

"We're looking forward to get back to France once again, to play it loud and eat a lot of French cheese!" says vocalist/guitarist Mia Coldheart. "The French guys know how to put a dressing room table in order forsure! After this, we're heading for Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands to play cool rock clubs, do festivals, meet new people and kick some rock ass!"

The shows in Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands will be with DORO, SONATA ARCTICA and JON OLIVA'S PAIN. From there, the group will play such major European summer festivals as Sweden Rock, Gods of Metal (Italy) and Rock Hard (Germany), among others.

The North American version of "In Distortion We Trust" will contain one bonus track — a cover of MOTÖRHEAD's "Killed By Death" — as well as music videos for each of the group's three singles ("Losing The Game", "Rock 'n' Roll Bachelor" and "Play Me Hard") that have been released in their home country.

AC/DC, METALLICA, THE BLACK CROWES, PANTERA and E.S.T. made metal history when they performed at the very first open-air rock festival to be held in the former Soviet Union. Captured on film, "For Those About To Rock... We Salute You: Monsters in Moscow" presents a concert feature signalling the arrival of a new political order, demanded by the people and heralded in by the sounds of some of the biggest names in rock music. Warner Home Video will debut the title on DVD on June 5.

In September 1991, only a few days after an attempted military coup failed to restore Communism to the newly democratic Russia and its affiliated nations, 500,000 rock music fans converged in Moscow to enjoy the very first open-air rock concert.

The evening kicked off with PANTERA taking to the stage. Phil Anselmo did his very best to get the crowd going, but it seemed that the fans required little encouragement and obviously years of living in rock denial sent some into overdrive. Russian band E.S.T. was next up, but the evening really took shape with the arrival of THE BLACK CROWES.

A phenomenal performance from metal gods METALLICA is another high-point of this concert. Old-school classics "Enter Sandman", "Creeping Death" and "Fade To Black" deliver an eardrum battering and by the time the legendary AC/DC take centre stage, the evening has already cemented its place in rock history.

"For Those About To Rock…We Salute You: Monsters in Moscow" also offers a look at the efforts of the Russian Army to try and postpone the concert.

Charlie Benante, drummer of ANTHRAX, is interviewed in the latest edition of the "Metal Injection" videocast. When asked about all the Internet backlash about the reunion tour of the band's classic lineup (with vocalist Joey Belladonna and guitarist Danny Spitz), Charlie said, "There is always going to be people that love it and some that hate it. I read some of these things 'cause people send me links, and I see these things and a lot of people are misinformed. They feel like we dissed John Bush, which is not true. John was asked to be a part of this, he chose not to be part of this. Of course, I could see how the fans would think John got fucked over on this whole thing, but that's the last thing I would want to do. I love John Bush. It was our 20th anniversary, we wanted to do something special, and that was it."

The entire interview can be viewed at MetalInjection.net. The episode also features two rare ANTHRAX videos for "Who Cares Wins" and "Medusa (Live)" as well as videos from CANNIBAL CORPSE, MISERY SIGNALS, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, SWORN ENEMY and AGENTS OF MAN.

"Metal Injection" is a DIY metal show based out of Brooklyn, New York. It has been the leading source for metal videos, interviews and live footage on the Internet since 2004.

Mercenary are currently wrapping up recordings of their as yet untitled 2006 album. Vocalist Mikkel Sandagar commented, “During the past four months, we have been writing the follow-up to 11 Dreams. We put together an amazing and diverse banquet, and so far it sounds better than we had ever expected. We were very well prepared for the studio this time, and it paid off. Mike (Park drums) laid down the drum tracks (with a broken leg 4 weeks in the mending) and then we recorded the rhythm guitars. I recorded all the vocal parts (for those who don’t already know founding member ‘Kral’ Andersen [vocals and bass] left the band prior these recordings) in 11 days, during which the keyboards were recorded. So all in all the recording process has gone very smoothly, and next week guitar solos and additional keyboards/samples will be completed. The album will be mixed in early May at Jacob Hansen studios and will be ready for release later this year. We are hoping that the album will be released in the States just in time for the band’s second appearance at the highly-prestigious ProgPower USA. We will go the extra mile to get the master tapes done in time so that the U.S. release will be timed with the European release. Anyone interested can see additional pictures from the Hansen studios at his website.”

In the wake of drummer Pete Wellmaker's departure, Hope And Suicide have added drummer Daniel Koutouzakis to their line-up. Meanwhile, the band has begun pre-production at a local studio for their next full-length. The new album will consist of roughly ten songs and will be released via an undisclosed label. In related news, the band has lined up several April shows:

Dates have been finalized for the upcoming Abacus Recordings Tour, featuring Caliban, Sworn Enemy, Ion Dissonance, and Embrace The End. Bleeding Kansas will also appear on a week's worth of dates. Here's the schedule

LAMB OF GOD have finished tracking the drums for their new CD at Spin Recording studios in Long Island City, New York. Produced by Machine (CLUTCH, KING CRIMSON) and engineered by Josh Wilbur, the follow-up to 2004's "Ashes of the Wake" is tentatively scheduled for release in late August via Epic Records.

LAMB OF GOD will be teaming up with SLAYER, MASTODON, CHILDREN OF BODOM and THINE EYES BLEED for the "Uholy Alliance Tour" beginning in early June. The band may introduce new material from their forthcoming album on the trek.

WICKED WISDOM — the five-piece band featuring actress Jada Pinkett Smith (wife of Will Smith) — will debut their new video, "Bleed All Over Me", on MTV2's "Headbanger's Ball" on Saturday, April 29. "Hopefully people will like the new single and the video," Jada said. "Dean Karr [director] did his thing. The song is about my co-dependency. No matter how much therapy I have, I can't seem to kick it.

"We are really excited about the new video for our second single, 'Bleed All Over Me'," she continued. "The video is basically about resurrecting those aspects of ourselves we kill to make other people happy with us. Every aspect of who we are is what makes us whole. You kill one part of ourselves, we don't realize it destroys the foundation of who we are."

"Bleed All Over Me" comes off WICKED WISDOM's self-titled debut album, which was released on February 21 via 100% Womon/Suburban Noize Records.

WICKED WISDOM recently completed a U.S. tour as the support act for SEVENDUST. "All the bands were so cool," Jada said. "SEVENDUST has some of the best fans. We made a lot of friends out there.

"Touring for three months was hard, but I believe that the grind really helped get our game tight. We have some more work to do but we made some big leaps in that time."

SINNERS BLEED, the German technical death metal squad which has previously performed at such prestigious festivals as Wacken Open Air and Inferno, have announced the addition of guitarist Vincent LaBoor (ex-FATAL EMBRACE) to the group's ranks.

Drummer Eric Krebs commented: "The applicants we have been auditioning so far were simply not able to play our complex riffs, but as soon as Vincent started to play, we knew he is the one. Vincent is an amazing guitarist and his broad influences will surely enrich SINNERS BLEED. We are happy and proud to welcome him onboard."

SINNERS BLEED are now writing new material for their highly anticipated second album, scheduled to be recorded before the end of 2006. The band's acclaimed debut, "From Womb To Tomb", was released worldwide by Twilight in 2004.

I, the new band featuring former IMMORTAL frontman Abbath (real name: Olve Eikemo), original IMMORTAL drummer Armagedda, ENSLAVED guitarist Arve Isdal and GORGOROTH bassist King ov Hell, have signed a deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band will enter the studio at the end of this month to begin recording their debut album, which will feature lyrics written primarily by former IMMORTAL guitarist Demonaz (real name: Harald Nævdal). A late 2006 release is expected.

I will make their live debut on August 26 at the Hole In The Sky festival in Bergen, Norway. Additional live appearances will be announced soon.

Finnish gothic rockers ENTWINE have entered the studio to begin recording their as-yet-untitled fifth album for an August 23, 2006 release. "The plan is to record 13 songs, 12 of them being new as there will be a re-make of 'Break Me'," the band write on their web site. "However, the forthcoming album will probably include 11 songs. New ENTWINE hymns were put together at record speed, during only just few weekends, due to busy schedules of members. Gladly, this doesn't affect the quality at all, in fact the boys and a girl agree that the songs sound very promising indeed. Well, we'll hear about that in few months. Certain is that the team hassling around the record know what they're doing.

"The album is being recorded at Petrax and Groveland studios by ENTWINE's very own drummer boy Aksu Hanttu who is nowadays very much employed in the field. Producer guy Janne Joutsenniemi is known to many from the ranks of legendary STONE and latterly SUBURBAN TRIBE. The tracks will be mixed in the subtle care of Finnvox's Mikko Karmila who is highly appreciated for his work with NIGHTWISH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, and many others. Mastering is probably going to take place at Stockholm's Cutting Room.

"Recordings have been going really well so far and knowing these guys, with couple of relaxing evening beers of course. Mika is currenty working on his vocal parts."

Details have begun to materialize for this summer's Strhess Tour 2006. The trek will kick off in July, with Shadows Fall returning as the headlining act (they headlined Strhess 2004). The tour also features Poison The Well in the direct support slot in addition to It Dies Today and Still Remains, with other acts such as Darkest Hour, Bury Your Dead, Himsa and Suffocation joining the tour in select markets. Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair had the following to say regarding the tour:

"Finally Shadows Fall will be hitting the road this year! After months of being trapped in the practice space we are really looking forward to getting back onstage. It looks like this will be the only tour we will be doing this year in support of our new album, Fallout From The War, so we urge everyone to do their best to make it out before we head back into the studio to begin work on the next album. We plan on busting out new tunes from the Fallout record and dusting of a few old tunes and adding them back into the set list. We are very excited to be part of the Strhess tour once again. The first one was a blast and we are honored that Derek Hess and all the people at Strhess have decided to invite us back. Hope to see you all there."

A Wilhelm Scream have announced the addition of a new permanent bass player. Joining the band is Brian Robinson, formerly of defunct Toronto band, The Fullblast. According to the band, "He’s a 'wicked' dude and we are super lucky to have him in our family. So yeah we're fuckin stoked and have already begun writing songs for the next record with him."

Hatebreed's upcoming Canadian tour has been cancelled. The trek was to take place in May and also feature The Warriors, Scars Of Tomorrow, and Despised Icon. The cancellation is apparently due to a "radius clause" in the contract for Hatebreed's late-summer tour with System Of A Down. The Canadian tour will reportedly be rescheduled.